Cauliflower is our vegetable buy of the week. Its weather-related absence (for what seemed like forever) and then skyrocketing price made us realise how much we missed it. To celebrate its return to affordability, try one of the recipes below or substitute cauliflower for potato when you want a lighter mash. Cauliflower mash can be made ahead of time and reheated. But when it's not mash you are making, be sure to boil or steam your cauli lightly (for only two minutes for crudites or salads).
Other vegetable buys of the week include broccoli, white cabbage, spaghetti squash, pumpkin and carrots. Fruit buys include satsuma mandarins, limes, nashi pears and, if you are lucky where you live, heritage ballarat apples with their green and red-flushed skin. Flavoursome ballarats turn fluffy when cooked, making the best apple desserts and pies.